MORRIS COUNTY — Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon announced the launch of Hope Hub, a sweeping program that combines the expertise and resources of multiple public service agencies to help vulnerable and at-risk people find the assistance they need, from homeless solutions and addiction treatment to mental health counseling or a combination of services

Hope Hub is an outgrowth of the wildly successful Hope One outreach program, a mobile substance use recovery and mental health initiative by which a team of specialists drives into Morris County communities to find and assist people in need of addiction counseling and mental health services. Hope Hub will expand on that formula by bringing a team approach, tapping the services of many different agencies and nonprofits to focus on the cases of vulnerable individuals brought to their attention by various public service agencies or individuals.

“We are working together to help individuals and families struggling in Morris County. Those who encounter people at risk in our society can refer vulnerable individuals seeking help to Hope Hub or alert Hope Hub of their plight,” said Cpl. Erica Valvano of the Sheriff’s Office. “These people come into the system many different ways. A police officer who sees someone about to become homeless, a treatment specialist seeing someone struggling with addiction, or a person just asking for help.”

Spearheaded by Hope Hub Coordinator Officer Chelsea Whiting, Hope Hub will be a multidisciplinary panel made up of members of law enforcement, social services, mental health services, healthcare providers, treatment providers and recovery specialists. Individuals and families struggling with problems referred to the Hope Hub panel will be connected to life-changing services.

The multidisciplinary panel will determine what public services would best help an individual brought to their attention, and the panel will work together to determine if a situation requires a welfare visit or an intervention.

Since the inception of Hope One on April 3, 2017, the Hope One team has made 17,101 community contacts and trained 3,149 people in the use of life-saving Narcan.  The program has been successful in building community awareness of the opioid epidemic and ending the stigma of addiction, and it has become recognized by Morris County residents as a service responsible for saving the lives of struggling people.

The successes of Hope One motivated the formation of Hope Hub to connect everyone in need with assistance services.

On January 15, 2021, over 50 providers attended a virtual Hope Hub Provider Meeting to prepare for the program launch.

Among the partners working with Sheriff Gannon will be the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, the Mental Health Association of Essex & Morris, the Center for Addiction, Recovery, Education & Success (CARES), the Morris County Chiefs of Police Association, Acenda Integrated Health, Family Promise of Morris, the Morris County Department of Human Services and Navigating Hope.

Also participating are the Office of Temporary Assistance (OTA), the STAR program, the Morris County Youth Shelter, the Morris County Division on Aging, Disabilities & Community Programming, Garden Chapel in  Victory Gardens, Nourish.NJ, Morris County Child & Family Resources, Prevention is Key, Inc., JBWS, Community Hope, Epiphany Community Services, Homeless Solutions Inc., the Jefferson Township Police Department, NewBridge Services,  the New Jersey Department of Education, and Edge New Jersey.

For more information, contact Cpl. Erica Valvano at [email protected].

MORRIS COUNTY — The coronavirus continues to have an impact on the area, according to updated state data from Morris County. The chart below shows the increase (decrease) in cases from February 25 to March 5.

Reductions in numbers from previous dates may be due to cases being transferred out of the jurisdiction and/or further investigation revealed that the case was incorrectly reported to the NJDOH/local health department as confirmed.

MORRIS COUNTY — Acting Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll, First Assistant Prosecutor Maggie Calderwood, and Chief of Detectives Christoph Kimker announce the hiring of Thomas P. McEnroe as Detective and Anthony Scibetta as Supervising Assistant Prosecutor for the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office. Melanie Smith was also promoted to the position of Chief Assistant Prosecutor.

On Monday, March 1, 2021, Acting Prosecutor Carroll and First Assistant Prosecutor Calderwood held a ceremony for Chief Assistant Prosecutor Smith and Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Scibetta.

Chief Assistant Prosecutor Smith will be responsible for supervising the General Investigations, Pre-Trial Services, Specialized Service, and Juvenile units.

Chief Assistant Prosecutor Smith started her career with the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office as a legal intern in 1994. She served as a law clerk at the Superior Court of New Jersey, Morristown; an Assistant Prosecutor for the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, assigned to the Juvenile, General Investigations, Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment, and Special Enforcement units. Smith was promoted to Supervising Assistant Prosecutor in February 2006 and assigned to the Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment, General Investigations, Pretrial Services, and Special Services units. She holds a B.A. double major from the University of Delaware and a Juris Doctor from Seton Hall University School of Law.

Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Scibetta will be assigned to supervise the General Investigations Unit within the Courts & Administration Division.

Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Scibetta previously served the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office as an assistant prosecutor from December 2009 through July 2015 and as a law clerk in 2009. He’s also held the positions of litigation associate for private law practice and assistant prosecutor for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office from March 2016 through February 2021. He holds a B.A. from Providence College and a Juris Doctor from the New England School of Law.

On Monday, March 1, 2021, Prosecutor Carroll and Chief Kimker administered the oath of office to Det. McEnroe.

Detective McEnroe will be assigned to the Major Crimes Unit within the Tactical Division.

A member of the New Jersey State Police for two decades, Detective McEnroe served in the Regional Operations and Intelligence Center, the NJSP Academy Training Bureau, NJSP Major Crime Unit, Essex County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force, and the Anti-Crime Partnership Bureau North Region. Prior to joining the NJSP, he served as a detective for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office from March 1995 through September 2000. Detective McEnroe holds numerous certifications and completed specialized training, and has been awarded several commendations during his law enforcement career. Detective McEnroe also served four years with the United States Marine Corps Reserve and on active duty in Operation Desert Storm. He holds a B.A. and Master of Arts from Seton Hall University.

Acting Prosecutor Carroll said, “With the challenges of a significant increase in drug overdoses, suicides, car thefts and coupled with the need to provide skilled leadership and training in the several new criminal justice initiatives from the Attorney General and the Legislature, the hiring of SAP Scibetta and Det. McEnroe and the promotion of CAP Smith again demonstrate our Office’s focus to acquire or promote highly experienced personnel to help in our law enforcement efforts. We are pleased to have succeeded with these appointments.”

MORRIS COUNTY — A shortage of personal protective equipment at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic proved to be one of the state’s biggest public health challenges. A bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce, preventing such a crisis and encouraging equipment manufacturing to increase supplies is making its way to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk.

The Assembly recently voted unanimously in favor of the bill (A4803) that requires the Office of Emergency Management to maintain a stockpile of equipment and establishes an approval process for businesses to transition to manufacturing protective gear.

“Without the proper protective equipment at the start of the coronavirus outbreak, our essential and frontline workers were put in precarious positions,” said DeCroce (R-Morris, Essex, Passaic). “We need to make sure this never happens again by making the process easier for manufacturers to start producing equipment and creating a plan to stockpile critical life-saving equipment.”

Under the bill, the state must create stockpiles of federally-approved equipment and New Jersey Office of Emergency Management-approved equipment. It will also allow the agency to grant approval to businesses to create PPE equipment.

New Jersey manufacturers like Suuchi Inc., a supply chain platform, and Eclipse, which makes mattresses, retooled operations to produce masks, gowns, gloves, and other protective gear during the pandemic. However, many other businesses were not able to transition to making protective equipment due to a lack of federal approval.

“We shouldn’t solely rely on the federal government to approve New Jersey businesses transitioning from manufacturing one type of product to producing much-needed personal protective equipment during emergencies,” said DeCroce. “We have capable and successful manufacturers that can produce those supplies in New Jersey. We should be helping keep them in business so people can stay employed.”

During public health emergencies, equipment in the stockpiles will be made available without charge to the state, municipalities, public schools, non-profit private and charter schools, and state hospitals and nursing homes.

The remainder will be available for purchase by businesses at market or cost price, whichever is higher, and non-profits at 75 percent of the market price or cost price, whichever is higher.

In December, the legislation was passed unanimously in the Senate. It now goes to the governor.

MORRIS COUNTY — Tax Policy lawyer and advocate Rosemary Becchi relaunched her non-profit advocacy organization Jersey 1st this week, with the goal of creating a voice for New Jerseyans. “I met a lot of hard-working New Jerseyans in the past year and they simply want a voice in our government” explained Becchi Founder of Jersey 1st.

“I talked to business owners, college students, moms, dads, veterans, members of the disabled community, and those who serve in law enforcement. They are all deflated right now- they feel that they have not been heard in Trenton or in Washington DC. The goal of Jersey 1st is to bring people together to advocate for better business policies, lower taxes, in-school learning, support of our law enforcement, and protection of our everyday freedoms. Our Jersey 1st team is rolling up their sleeves and ready to get to work on these issues.”

At the heart of Jersey 1st is its NextGen interns from throughout New Jersey who is dedicated to making a difference. These Jersey 1st interns are working to balance their new internships with their coursework from Seton Hall University, Ramapo College, Rutgers University, Rowan University, University of Michigan, Providence College, James Caldwell High School, Kushner Academy, and Newark Academy. They all share a vision of a new era of activism in New Jersey, with different dialogue. Weekly zoom meetings are centered around policy discussion and brainstorming about ways to promote their views and a new vision of open and non-judgmental dialogue about difficult issues. At the top of their minds right now, is the current remote learning models.

“Too many decisions are being made based on politics and not on science,” said Becchi. “It’s time to open our schools and get our economy going again. New Jerseyans need a voice— a voice to advocate for small businesses, for members of our disabled community, for our children who are suffering by not being able to attend school in person.”

The current economic and political climates present an extraordinary opportunity to capitalize on the momentum of millions of New Jerseyans who feel overtaxed, overregulated, and underrepresented. Jersey 1st recognizes the pivotal timing and the opportunity to effect change in New Jersey and will do so through a grassroots organization, targeted fundraising, effective policy advocacy, and the implementation of a multi-media campaign including a weekly Facebook Live segment on the Jersey 1st Facebook page on Thursday evenings at 7:00 p.m.

“It’s time to change the narrative of politics today and confront the destructive, hateful cancel culture that does more to divide than unifying. Our problems here in New Jersey are hard – and we need to work together to solve them” said Becchi. “It’s time to put the needs of New Jersey families and businesses first so that the next generation can afford to live in their home state and raise their children here. At the end of the day- that’s our motivation.”